System and method for retail management of controlled substances

ABSTRACT

A method and system for retail management of controlled substances is provided. Controlled substances such as alcohol or cannabis may be sold as products or served at a venue. The process of purchasing the controlled substance, or service of a controlled substance the current venue includes a customer presenting the controlled substance for purchase and providing a customer identifier. The point of sale device at the venue may send an authorization request to a processing server at a remote service, which may reply with an advisory response including information from a customer profile. Optionally, a system and method of retail management of controlled substances provides for a law enforcement system may send an investigation request comprising a vehicle identifier to the processing server, and in response an investigation response may be sent to the law enforcement system may be sent including information from the customer profile.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/948,728filed on Sep. 30, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/916,498 filed on Oct. 17, 2019, the completedisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The described embodiments relate to the management of sales ofcontrolled substances such as alcohol and cannabis by vendors.

BACKGROUND

Vendors that sell controlled substances such as alcohol and cannabis,including restaurants and retailers, have many obligations in their roleserving these products to the public. These obligations may existbecause of the conditions of the vendor's license to sell the controlledsubstance, may relate to legal liability for the actions of customerssold to or served in excess, and may relate to ethical obligations heldby the vendor to act diligently and as a good member of the community.

The obligations may include an obligation to monitor the amount ofcontrolled substances purchased by a customer, and to discontinueserving a controlled substance based on the level of consumption by acustomer. Another obligation includes not serving or selling tocustomers a particular controlled substances if they have alreadyconsumed an excess of the particular controlled substance, includingwhere the consumption occurred at a prior vendor. Finally, anotherobligation may be to deny entry into an establishment to customers whohave already consumed an excess of a particular controlled substance.

In their road safety role, law enforcement officers may also facesimilar obligations in stopping vehicles driven by customers who haveconsumed an excess of a controlled substance. The officers may berequired to make a judgement call about the suspicion of a particulardriver's consumption based on factors unrelated to the actual purchasehistory of the driver.

Traditionally, these obligations are met by diligent salespeople,restaurant staff, and other employees during the process of purchase orwhile serving. The obligations are often met, for example, by arestaurant server recalling a number of drinks that each patron hasordered and consumed. Further, a salesperson may smell alcohol or othersubstances on a customer's breath, or may make a judgement call basedupon a customer's behavior or demeanor.

For law enforcement officers, judgment to pull over a vehicle may bemade based on the vehicle's driving pattern, visual indicators of thedriver's consumption, etc. that are unrelated to the driver's actualpurchase history.

It is therefore desired to provide an improved system and method toassist restaurant employees and law enforcement officers in dischargingtheir obligations to the public with respect to these customers.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect there is provided a method for retail management ofcontrolled substances at a current venue, the current venue comprising acurrent point-of-sale device, the method comprising: receiving, at aprocessing server from a prior point-of-sale device, a priorauthorization request comprising one or more prior product identifierscorresponding to one or more prior controlled substance productspresented for purchase at the prior point-of-sale device, and a customeridentifier presented by the customer purchasing the one or more priorcontrolled substance products at the prior point-of-sale device;generating, at the processing server, a corresponding customer profileassociated with the customer identifier, and the one or more priorproduct identifiers in the prior authorization request; receiving, at aprocessing server from the current point-of-sale device, a currentauthorization request comprising one or more current product identifierscorresponding to one or more current controlled substance productspresented for purchase at the current point-of-sale device, and thecustomer identifier presented by the customer purchasing the one or morecurrent controlled substance products at the current point-of-saledevice; determining, at the processing server, the correspondingcustomer profile associated with the customer identifier; updating, atthe processing server, the corresponding customer profile with the oneor more current product identifiers in the current authorizationrequest; transmitting, from the processing server to the currentpoint-of-sale device, an advisory response corresponding to the currentauthorization request and the corresponding customer profile based onthe one or more current product identifiers and the one or more priorproduct identifiers.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a time of purchase of the one or more prior controlled substanceproducts represented by the one or more prior product identifiers.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a prior location type of the prior venue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a current location type of the current venue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a distance between the first venue and the second venue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a transportation type used between the first venue and the secondvenue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a product type corresponding to the one or more current productidentifiers and the one or more prior product identifiers.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a container indicia of the one or more current controlled substanceproducts represented by the one or more current product identifiers anda container indicia of the one or more prior controlled substanceproducts represented by one or more prior product identifiers.

In a second aspect, there is provided a system for retail management ofcontrolled substances at a current venue, the current venue comprising acurrent point-of-sale device, the method comprising: a processingserver, the processing server comprising: a memory; a network device;and a processor in communication with the memory and the network device,the processor configured to: receive, at the network device from a priorpoint-of-sale device, a prior authorization request comprising one ormore prior product identifiers corresponding to one or more priorcontrolled substance products presented for purchase at the priorpoint-of-sale device, and a customer identifier presented by thecustomer purchasing the one or more prior controlled substance productsat the prior point-of-sale device; generate a corresponding customerprofile associated with the customer identifier, and the one or moreprior product identifiers in the prior authorization request; receive,at the network device from the current point-of-sale device, a currentauthorization request comprising one or more current product identifierscorresponding to one or more current controlled substance productspresented for purchase at the current point-of-sale device, and thecustomer identifier presented by the customer purchasing the one or morecurrent controlled substance products at the current point-of-saledevice; determine the corresponding customer profile associated with thecustomer identifier; update the corresponding customer profile with theone or more current product identifiers in the current authorizationrequest; transmit, from network device to the current point-of-saledevice, an advisory response corresponding to the current authorizationrequest and the corresponding customer profile based on the one or morecurrent product identifiers and the one or more prior productidentifiers.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a time of purchase of the one or more prior controlled substanceproducts represented by the one or more prior product identifiers.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a prior location type of the prior venue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a current location type of the current venue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a distance between the first venue and the second venue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a transportation type used between the first venue and the secondvenue.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a product type corresponding to the one or more current productidentifiers and the one or more prior product identifiers.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may be further basedon a container indicia of the one or more current controlled substanceproducts represented by the one or more current product identifiers anda container indicia of the one or more prior controlled substanceproducts represented by one or more prior product identifiers.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method for retail management ofcontrolled substances at a first venue, the first venue comprising afirst point-of-sale device, the method comprising: receiving, at aprocessing server from the first point-of-sale device, an authorizationrequest comprising one or more product identifiers corresponding to oneor more controlled substance products presented for purchase at thefirst point-of-sale device, and a customer identifier presented by thecustomer purchasing the one or more controlled substance products at thefirst point-of-sale device; determining, at the processing server, acorresponding customer profile associated with the customer identifier;updating, at the processing server, the corresponding customer profilewith the one or more product identifiers in the authorization request;transmitting, from the processing server to the first point-of-saledevice, an advisory response corresponding to the authorization requestand the corresponding customer profile; receiving, at the processingserver from a law enforcement system, an investigation requestcomprising a vehicle identifier; determining, at the processing server,an investigation customer identifier corresponding to the vehicleidentifier; and transmitting, from the processing server to the lawenforcement system, an investigation response corresponding to theinvestigation request, the investigation response comprising aninvestigation customer profile corresponding to the investigationcustomer identifier.

In at least one embodiment, the customer identifier may be a governmentissued identifier.

In at least one embodiment, the law enforcement system may be an opticallicense plate scanner.

In at least one embodiment, the determining, at the processing server,the corresponding customer profile associated with the customeridentifier may further comprise determining if there is not an existingcustomer profile and creating a new customer profile corresponding tothe customer identifier.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may further comprisean authorization status, the authorization status comprising a success,a warning, or a failure.

In at least one embodiment, the updating, at the processing server, thecorresponding customer profile with the one or more product identifiersin the authorization request may further comprise updating thecorresponding customer profile with a transaction time, one or moreproduct type identifiers corresponding to the one or more productidentifiers, and a venue identifier corresponding to the first venue.

In at least one embodiment, the customer profile and the investigationcustomer profile may further comprise historical purchase informationfor the customer.

In at least one embodiment, the method may further comprise:determining, at the processing server, if the customer profile containshistorical purchase information from before a time threshold; andremoving any historical purchase information associated with thecustomer profile before the time threshold.

In at least one embodiment, the method may further comprise:transmitting, from the processing server to a correctional system, acorrectional query request, the correctional query request comprisingthe customer identifier; receiving, at the processing server from thecorrectional system, a correctional query response corresponding to thecorrectional query request, the correctional query response comprising aparole status indicia corresponding to the customer identifier; and uponreceiving the correctional query response status comprising an activeparole indicia, generating the advisory response with the authorizationstatus of failure.

In at least one embodiment, the method may further comprise: providingthe customer with a wearable device comprising a wearable identifier;storing the wearable identifier in association with the customerprofile; and wherein the customer identifier presented by the customerpurchasing the one or more controlled substance products at the firstpoint-of-sale is the wearable identifier.

In at least one embodiment, the retail environment may further comprisea second point-of-sale device located at a second venue, the method mayfurther comprise: receiving, at the processing server from the secondpoint-of-sale device, a second authorization request comprising theanother one or more product identifiers corresponding to another one ormore controlled substance products presented for purchase at the secondpoint-of-sale device, and a second customer identifier presented by thecustomer purchasing the another one or more controlled substanceproducts at the second point-of-sale device; determining, at theprocessing server, a corresponding second customer profile associatedwith the customer identifier; updating, at the processing server, thesecond corresponding customer profile with the another one or moreproduct identifiers in the second authorization request; transmitting,from the processing server to the second point-of-sale device, a secondadvisory response corresponding to the second authorization request andthe corresponding second customer profile; and wherein if the firstcustomer identifier and the second customer identifier are the same, thesecond advisory response to the second point-of-sale device may comprisethe one or more product identifiers and the another one or more productidentifiers.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a system for retail management ofcontrolled substances in a retail environment, the retail environmentcomprising a first point-of-sale device, the system comprising: aprocessing server in network communication with the first point-of-saledevice, the processing server comprising: a memory, the memorycomprising a database; a processor in communication with the memory, theprocessor configured to: receive from the first point-of-sale device, anauthorization request comprising one or more product identifierscorresponding to one or more controlled substance products presented forpurchase at the first point-of-sale device, and a customer identifierpresented by the customer purchasing the one or more controlledsubstance products at the first point-of-sale device; determine acorresponding customer profile in the database associated with thecustomer identifier; update the corresponding customer profile in thedatabase with the one or more product identifiers in the authorizationrequest; transmit an advisory response corresponding to theauthorization request and the corresponding customer profile to thefirst point-of-sale device; receive an investigation request comprisinga vehicle identifier from a law enforcement system; determine aninvestigation customer identifier corresponding to the vehicleidentifier; and transmit an investigation response corresponding to theinvestigation request to the law enforcement system, the investigationresponse comprising an investigation customer profile corresponding tothe investigation customer identifier.

In at least one embodiment, the customer identifier may be a governmentissued identifier.

In at least one embodiment, the law enforcement system may be an opticallicense plate scanner.

In at least one embodiment, the processor may be further configured todetermine if there is not an existing customer profile in the databaseand creating a new customer profile corresponding to the customeridentifier in the database.

In at least one embodiment, the advisory response may further comprisean authorization status, the authorization status comprising a success,a warning, or a failure.

In at least one embodiment, the customer profile and the investigationcustomer profile may further comprise historical purchase informationfor the customer.

In at least one embodiment, the processor may be further configured to:determine if the customer profile contains historical purchaseinformation from before a time threshold; and remove any historicalpurchase information associated with the customer profile in thedatabase before the time threshold.

In at least one embodiment, the processor may be further configured to:transmit a correctional query request to a correctional system, thecorrectional query request comprising the customer identifier; receive acorrectional query response corresponding to the correctional queryrequest from the correctional system, the correctional query responsecomprising a parole status indicia corresponding to the customeridentifier; and upon receiving the correctional query response statuscomprising an active parole indicia, generating the advisory responsewith the authorization status of failure.

In at least one embodiment, the system may further comprise: a wearabledevice comprising a wearable identifier readable by the firstpoint-of-sale device; and wherein the processor may be furtherconfigured to: store the wearable identifier in association with thecustomer profile; and wherein the customer identifier presented by thecustomer purchasing the one or more controlled substance products at thefirst point-of-sale device is the wearable identifier.

In at least one embodiment, the retail environment may further comprisea second point-of-sale device located at a second venue, wherein theprocessor may be further configured to: receive a second authorizationrequest from the second point-of-sale device, the second authorizationrequest comprising another one or more product identifiers correspondingto another one or more controlled substance products presented forpurchase at the second point-of-sale device, and a second customeridentifier presented by the customer purchasing the another one or morecontrolled substance products at the second point-of-sale device;determine a corresponding customer profile associated with the secondcustomer identifier in the database; updating the corresponding secondcustomer profile in the database with the another one or more productidentifiers in the second authorization request; transmitting a secondadvisory response to the second point-of-sale device, the secondadvisory response corresponding to the second authorization request andthe corresponding second customer profile; and wherein if the firstcustomer identifier and the second customer identifier are the same, thesecond advisory response to the second point-of-sale device may comprisethe one or more product identifiers and the another one or more productidentifiers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described indetail with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of the retail management system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the remote service 110 including processingserver 112 and database 114 from FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a software component diagram of the retail management system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method of retail management of controlledsubstances.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another method of retail management ofcontrolled substances.

FIG. 6A is a user interface showing an advisory message of a retailmanagement system.

FIG. 6B is a user interface showing an advisory message of a retailmanagement system for a law enforcement officer.

FIG. 7A is an example of a wearable identifier of a retail managementsystem.

FIG. 7B is another example of a wearable identifier of a retailmanagement system.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

It will be appreciated that numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the example embodimentsdescribed herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinaryskill in the art that the embodiments described herein may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods,procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not toobscure the embodiments described herein. Furthermore, this descriptionand the drawings are not to be considered as limiting the scope of theembodiments described herein in any way, but rather as merely describingthe implementation of the various embodiments described herein.

It should be noted that terms of degree such as “substantially”, “about”and “approximately” when used herein mean a reasonable amount ofdeviation of the modified term such that the end result is notsignificantly changed. These terms of degree should be construed asincluding a deviation of the modified term if this deviation would notnegate the meaning of the term it modifies.

In addition, as used herein, the wording “and/or” is intended torepresent an inclusive-or. That is, “X and/or Y” is intended to mean Xor Y or both, for example. As a further example, “X, Y, and/or Z” isintended to mean X or Y or Z or any combination thereof.

The embodiments of the systems and methods described herein may beimplemented in hardware or software, or a combination of both. Theseembodiments may be implemented in computer programs executing onprogrammable computers, each computer including at least one processor,a data storage system (including volatile memory or non-volatile memoryor other data storage elements or a combination thereof), and at leastone communication interface. For example and without limitation, theprogrammable computers (referred to below as computing devices) may be aserver, network appliance, embedded device, computer expansion module, apersonal computer, laptop, personal data assistant, cellular telephone,smart-phone device, tablet computer, a wireless device or any othercomputing device capable of being configured to carry out the methodsdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, the communication interface may be a networkcommunication interface. In embodiments in which elements are combined,the communication interface may be a software communication interface,such as those for inter-process communication (IPC). In still otherembodiments, there may be a combination of communication interfacesimplemented as hardware, software, and a combination thereof.

Program code may be applied to input data to perform the functionsdescribed herein and to generate output information. The outputinformation is applied to one or more output devices, in known fashion.

Each program may be implemented in a high level procedural or objectoriented programming and/or scripting language, or both, to communicatewith a computer system. However, the programs may be implemented inassembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language maybe a compiled or interpreted language. Each such computer program may bestored on a storage media or a device (e.g. ROM, magnetic disk, opticaldisc) readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer,for configuring and operating the computer when the storage media ordevice is read by the computer to perform the procedures describedherein. Embodiments of the system may also be considered to beimplemented as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium,configured with a computer program, where the storage medium soconfigured causes a computer to operate in a specific and predefinedmanner to perform the functions described herein.

Furthermore, the system, processes and methods of the describedembodiments are capable of being distributed in a computer programproduct comprising a computer readable medium that bears computer usableinstructions for one or more processors. The medium may be provided invarious forms, including one or more diskettes, compact disks, tapes,chips, wireline transmissions, satellite transmissions, internettransmission or downloads, magnetic and electronic storage media,digital and analog signals, and the like. The computer useableinstructions may also be in various forms, including compiled andnon-compiled code.

Various embodiments have been described herein by way of example only.Various modification and variations may be made to these exampleembodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, which is limited only by the appended claims. Also, in thevarious user interfaces illustrated in the figures, it will beunderstood that the illustrated user interface text and controls areprovided as examples only and are not meant to be limiting. Othersuitable user interface elements may be possible.

Reference is first made to FIG. 1 , there is shown a system diagram 100for a retail management system. The retail management system includesone or more user devices 102, a network 104, a remote service 110, afirst venue 120, an optional second venue 130, and an optional lawenforcement vehicle 140 having a vehicle license plate scanner 142.

The one or more user devices 102 may be used by an end user to access asoftware application (not shown) running on processing server 112 atremote service 110 over network 104. For example, the application may bea web application, or a client/server application. The user device 102may be a desktop computer, mobile device, or laptop computer. The userdevice 102 may be in communication with processing server 112, and mayallow a user to review user profiles stored in database 114. The user atuser device 102 may also be an administrator user who may administer theconfiguration of the retail management system using a web application atprocessing server 112.

Network 104 may be a communication network such as the Internet, aWide-Area Network (WAN), a Local-Area Network (LAN), or another type ofnetwork. Network 104 may include a point-to-point connection, or anothercommunications connection between two nodes.

The remote service 110 is in network communication with the first venue120, the second venue 130, the user device 102, and the law enforcementsystem 140. The remote service 110 may have a processing server 112 anda database 114. The database 114 and the processing server 112 may beprovided on the same server, may be configured as virtual machines, ormay be configured as containers. The remote server 110 may run on acloud provider such as Amazon® Web Services (AWS®).

The processing server 112 may host a web application or an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) endpoint that the user device 102 mayinteract with via network 104. Further, the processing server 112 mayprovide API endpoints for the first point-of-sale 126 and the secondpoint-of-sale 136 to call. The processing server 112 may make calls tothe first point-of-sale 126 at the first venue 120, the secondpoint-of-sale 136 at the second venue 130, or the law enforcementsystem. Further, the processing server 112 may make calls to thedatabase 114 to query data on customers, transactions, or products.

The API endpoints provided by processing server 112 may allow for aplurality of venues, including venues from a plurality of differentorganizations to make requests to determine the purchase history of auser for one or more controlled products. The requests made to the APIendpoint of processing server 112 may be made in a variety of differentformats, such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML).

The database 114 may store customer information including purchasehistory, transaction information, vehicle information, and productinformation. The database 114 may be a Structured Query Language (SQL)such as PostgreSQL or MySQL or a not only SQL (NoSQL) database such asMongoDB.

The first venue 120 may be a restaurant, a bar, a retailer, a grocerystore, a government owned liquor store, a privately owned liquor store,a brewery, a vineyard, a dispensary, a pharmacy, or any other providerof goods or services including controlled substances.

The first venue 120 has a first point-of-sale device 126 that is incommunication with network 104 and remote service 110 via network 104.The first point-of-sale device may have a display for showing a userinterface and additional information to an employee at the first venue120. At the first venue 120, a customer may present a controlledsubstance 122 for purchase at the first point-of-sale device 126. Thecontrolled substance 122 may be a packaged product that is regulatedand/or government controlled. The controlled substance 122 may be asix-pack of beer, for example. For the purposes of this example, thesale and service of alcohol related products will be used, however it isunderstood that the controlled substances may include psychoactiveproducts such as Cannabis, pharmaceutical products such as opiate-basedpainkillers, or any other controlled substance.

The customer may present identification 124 at the first point-of-saledevice 126 at the time of purchase of the controlled substance 122. Theidentification 124 may be government issued identification such as adriver's license, a health card, a social insurance card, a passport,etc.

During the purchase of the controlled substance 122, one or more productidentifiers corresponding to the controlled substance 122 may be read bythe first point-of-sale device 126.

During the purchase of the controlled substance 122, the identification124 is read by the first point-of-sale device 126. Once read by thefirst point-of-sale device 126, the identifier of identification 124 maybe transmitted from the first point-of-sale device 126 along with theone or more product identifiers to the remote service 110 to request anadvisory response about the customer. Based on the advisory response,the customer at the first point of sale device 126 may be refusedpurchase by a sales employee at the first venue.

Based on the advisory response, the customer at the first point of saledevice 126 may be refused purchase of the controlled substance 122 by asales employee at the first venue 120. The sales employee at the firstpoint of sale device 126 may indicate a refusal of service of thecustomer at the point of sale device 126, and this refusal of servicemay be transmitted to the remote service 110 and stored in the customerprofile database in association with the customer.

The request for advisory response about the customer based on theidentification 124 may be included in an authorization request at thefirst point-of-sale 126 in the payment processing of the customer'spayment card in order to fund the purchase of the controlled substance122.

The second venue 130 may be another restaurant, a bar, a retailer, agrocery store, a government owned liquor store, a privately owned liquorstore, a brewery, a vineyard, a dispensary, a pharmacy, or any otherprovider of goods or services including controlled substances.

The second venue 130 has a second point-of-sale device 136 that is incommunication with network 104 and remote service 110 via network 104.At the second venue 130, a customer may present a controlled substance132 for purchase at the point-of-sale device 136. The controlledsubstance 132 may be a packaged product that is regulated and/orgovernment controlled. The controlled substance 132 may be six bottlesof wine, for example.

The customer may present identification 134 at the second point-of-saledevice 136 at the time of purchase of the controlled substance 132. Theidentification 134 may be government issued identification such as adriver's license, a health card, a social insurance card, a passport,etc. When the same customer first purchases controlled substance 122 atfirst venue 120, and then later attempts to purchase controlledsubstance 132 at the second venue 130, the identification 124 and theidentification 134 may be the same.

During the purchase of the controlled substance 132, one or more productidentifiers corresponding to the controlled substance 132 may be read bythe second point-of-sale device 136.

During the purchase of the controlled substance 132, the identification134 is read by the second point-of-sale device 136. Once read by thefirst point-of-sale device 136, the identifier of identification 134 maybe transmitted from the first point-of-sale device 136 along with theone or more product identifiers to the remote service 110 to requestadvisory response about the customer.

Based on the advisory response, the customer at the second point of saledevice 136 may be refused purchase of the controlled substance 132 by asales employee at the second venue 130. The sales employee at the secondpoint of sale device 136 may indicate a refusal of service of thecustomer at the point of sale device 136, and this refusal of servicemay be transmitted to the remote service 110 and stored in the customerprofile database in association with the customer.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may further include atheft indicator for the customer identifier used by the customer, whichmay indicate if the customer identifier has been stolen.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response received at the secondpoint of sale device 136 may include a success status, a warning status,or a failure status. The point of sale device 136 may report to theremote service 110 an action taken by the venue 130. For example, if theadvisory response includes a failure status, and a transaction issubsequently performed at second venue 130 for the controlled substance132 to the customer identified by customer identifier 134, this actionmay be reported to the remote service 110.

The remote service 110 may identify a matching customer profile indatabase 114 based on the customer identification 134, where thecustomer identification 134 is the same as customer identification 124.

In an alternate embodiment the identification 124 and identification 134may be different government issued identifiers associated with the samecustomer. In this case, the remote server 110 may perform matching ofthe identifier 124 from the first venue 120, and the identifier 134 fromthe second venue 130 to determine a matching customer profile indatabase 114 at remote service 110.

The request for advisory response about the customer based on theidentification 134 may be included in an authorization request at thepoint-of-sale 136 in the payment processing of the customer's paymentcard in order to fund the purchase of the controlled substance 132. Theadvisory response provided to the point-of-sale system 136 at secondvenue 130 about the purchase of controlled substance 132 at the secondvenue 130 may include the purchase history of the controlled substance122 at first venue 120. The advisory response received at the secondvenue 130 from the remote service 110 in response to the authorizationrequest may further include one or more further details of the purchaseat the first venue 120, including a time of purchase of the regulatedproduct 122 at the first venue 120, a location type of the first venue120 (for example, if the first venue 120 is a restaurant, bar, grocerystore, etc), a location type of the second venue 130 (for example, ifthe second venue 130 is a restaurant, bar, grocery store, etc.), adistance from the physical location of the first venue 120 and thesecond venue 130, a transportation type used by the customer between thefirst venue 120 and the second venue 130, a product type of theregulated product 122 or the regulated product 132, other transactiondata from the purchase of the controlled product 122 at first venue 120,whether the customer has been previously refused service or sales atother venues (for example, if the customer is refused service at thefirst venue 120), and a container indicia of the controlled product 122(for example, was the substance sold in an open container versus aclosed one, requiring the customer to consume the product at the firstvenue 120 instead of carrying out the controlled product).

The advisory response about the customer based on the controlledproducts 132 presented for purchase at the second venue 130 may allow anemployee at the second venue 130 to make an informed decision aboutwhether to proceed with the purchase of the controlled products 132 orto continue to serve the customer controlled products 132, or whether torefuse service or sales of the controlled products 132.

The first venue 120 and the second venue 130 may be independent of eachother, for example, the first venue may be a grocery store and thesecond venue may be a restaurant. Alternatively, the first venue 120 andthe second venue 130 may be different locations of the sameorganization.

Optionally, a law enforcement system 140 used by a law enforcementofficer, including a mobile license plate scanning device 142 may be innetwork communication with remote service 110. The mobile license platescanning device 142 at law enforcement system 140 may automatically scanthe vehicle license plates of vehicles in proximity to the lawenforcement office operating the law enforcement system 140. In oneexample, the mobile license plate scanning device 142 may be mounted ona law enforcement vehicle, and may automatically capture and identifylicense plate identifiers, for example, using a camera externallymounted on the law enforcement vehicle. The law enforcement system 140may determine from a license plate identifier, an identifier for adriver corresponding to a government issued identifier such as adriver's license. The law enforcement system 140 may transmit aninvestigation request to the remote service 110 to query the database114 for the user profile corresponding to the government issuedidentifier determined from a vehicle using the license plate scanner142. In response, the remote service 110 may transmit an investigationresponse to the law enforcement system 140 for a law enforcement officerto review.

The investigation response provided to the law enforcement system 140about the driver associated with the identified license plate mayinclude the purchase history of the controlled substance 122 at firstvenue 120 and the controlled substance 132 at the second venue 130. Theinvestigation response received at the law enforcement system 140 fromthe remote service 110 in response to the investigation request mayfurther include one or more further details of the purchase at the firstvenue 120, the purchase at the second venue 130, including a time ofpurchase of the regulated product 122 at the first venue 120, a time ofpurchase of the regulated product 132 at the second venue 130, alocation type of the first venue 120 (for example, if the first venue120 is a restaurant, bar, grocery store, etc), a location type of thesecond venue 130 (for example, if the second venue 130 is a restaurant,bar, grocery store, etc), a distance from the current location of thelaw enforcement system 140 to the physical location of the first venue120, a distance from the current location of the law enforcement system140 to the physical location of the second venue 130, a transportationtype used by the customer between the first venue 120 and the secondvenue 130, a transportation type used by the customer between the secondvenue 130 and the current location of the law enforcement system 140, aproduct type of the regulated product 122 or the regulated product 132,other transaction data from the purchase of the controlled product 122at first venue 120, other transaction data from the purchase of thecontrolled product 132 at first venue 130, a container indicia (forexample, was the substance sold in an open container versus a closedone, requiring the customer to consume the product at the first venue120 instead of carrying out the controlled product) of the controlledproduct 122.

The advisory response about the customer based on the controlledproducts 132 presented for purchase at the second venue 130 may allow anemployee at the second venue 130 to make an informed decision aboutwhether to proceed with the purchase of the controlled products 132 orto continue to serve the customer controlled products 132, or to refusethe customer the purchase of the controlled products 132. In a furtherembodiment, the advisory response may further include a theft indicatorfor the customer identifier used by the customer, which may indicate ifthe customer identifier has been stolen.

Reference is next made to FIG. 2 , showing a block diagram 200 of theremote service 110 including processing server 112 and database 114 fromFIG. 1 . The remote service 110 has a processing server 112 and adatabase 114. The processing server 112 and the database 114 may belocated on the same server (as shown in FIG. 2 ), or on differentservers that are in network communication with each other. Theprocessing server 112 and the database 114 may be virtual machines, orcontainers as is known. The processing server 112 and the database 114may be hosted on a cloud provider such as Amazon® Web Services (AWS®).The remote service 110 has communication unit 202, display 204,processor unit 206, memory unit 208, I/O unit 210, user interface engine212, and power unit 214. The memory unit 208 has operating system 216,programs 218, authorization module 220, investigation module 221, userprofile module 222, user profile database 224, transaction module 226,transaction database 228, and product database 230.

The communication unit 202 may be a standard network adapter such as anEthernet or 802.11x adapter. The processor unit 206 may include astandard processor, such as the Intel Xeon processor, for example.Alternatively, there may be a plurality of processors that are used bythe processor unit 206 and may function in parallel.

The processor unit 206 can also execute a user interface engine 212 thatis used to generate various user interfaces, some examples of which areshown and described herein, such as in FIG. 6A-6B. The user interfaceengine 212 provides for point-of-sale interfaces for users to entercustomer identifiers (which may be read by scanning an identificationcard, or manually entering information associated with the identifier),and the information may be processed by the authorization module 220.The user interface engine 212 further provides for law enforcement userinterfaces that may be provided to law enforcement systems. Userinterface engine 212 may be an Application Programming Interface or aWeb-based application that is accessible via the communication unit 202.

I/O unit 210 provides access to server devices including disks andperipherals. The I/O hardware provides local storage access to theprograms running on remote service 200.

The power unit 214 provides power to the remote service 200.

Memory unit 208 may have an operating system 216, programs 218,authorization module 220, investigation module 221, user profile module222, user profile database 224, transaction module 226, transactiondatabase 228, and product database 230.

The operating system 216 may be a Microsoft Windows Server operatingsystem, or a Linux-based operating system, or another operating system.

The programs 218 comprise program code that, when executed, configuresthe processor unit 206 to operate in a particular manner to implementvarious functions and tools for the remote service 200.

The authorization module 220 provides functionality to receive anauthorization request from communication unit 202 and process it. Thismay involve querying the user profile database, the transactiondatabase, and the product database. The authorization request receivedat the authorization module 220 may include one or more productidentifiers from a venue, and a customer identifier.

Responsive to the authorization request, the authorization module 220may generate an advisory response to the venue. The advisory responsemay indicate the customer's purchase history of controlled products. Theadvisory response may further indicate a success, a warning, or afailure status of the customer. The success, warning, and failurestatuses may be determined by the authorization module 220 based on theuser profile located in user profile database 224, transactionsassociated with the user profile in the transaction database 228, andproducts associated with the transactions in the product database 230.The authorization module 220 may receive an action from a point of salesystem after sending an advisory response, and the advisory response maybe stored along with the action, in order to track a venue's compliancewith the advisory response. The advisory response may further indicate anumber of refusal events of the customer at other venues. In a furtherembodiment, the advisory response may further include a theft indicatorfor the customer identifier used by the customer, which may indicate ifthe customer identifier has been stolen.

The investigation module 221 provides functionality to receive aninvestigation request from communication unit 202 and process it. Thismay involve querying the user profile database, the transactiondatabase, and the product database. Further, the investigation module221 may query a parole status for a user identified using an identifierfrom a correctional system. This parole status may further inform thelaw enforcement officer to identify individuals on parole, theirparticular parole conditions, and their purchase history of controlledsubstances. The investigation request received at the investigationmodule 221 may include a vehicle plate identifier and a driveridentifier.

Responsive to the investigation request, the investigation module 221may generate an investigation response to the law enforcement systemgenerating the investigation request. The investigation response mayindicate the customer's purchase history of controlled products. Theinvestigation response may further indicate a success, a warning, or afailure status of the driver. The success, warning, and failure statusesmay be determined by the investigation module 221 based on the userprofile located in user profile database 224, transactions associatedwith the user profile in the transaction database 228, productsassociated with the transactions in the product database 230, and aparole indicia associated with the user as received from a correctionalsystem.

The user profile module 222 provides functionality related to userprofiles in the system for retail management of controlled substances.User profiles may be created by the user profile module 222 in responseto a request from the authorization module 220 to the user profilemodule 222 based on an authorization request received at theauthorization module 220, where the customer identifier received in theauthorization request does not match an existing user profile in theuser profile database 224. The user profile module 222 may read a userprofile and provide it to the authorization module 220 or theinvestigation module 221 in response to a request from the authorizationmodule 220 or the investigation module 221 based upon an authorizationrequest where the user identifier matches an existing record in the userprofile database. The user profile module 222 may further respond to aninvestigation request by reading a user profile if the driver identifierprovided in the investigation request matches a user identifier in theuser profile. The user profile module 222 may create, read, update, ordelete database records from the user profile database 224.

The user profile module 222 may update a user profile in the userprofile database 224 where an authorization request is received andthere is a matching user profile with a matching user identifier alreadyin the user profile database. The transaction information in this casemay be added to the transaction database 228, and the newly createdtransaction records may be associated with the existing user profile inthe user profile database 224.

The user profile module 222 may delete a user profile in the userprofile database 224 for a user where it is determined that the userprofile has no matching transaction records within a time threshold ofthe current time. For example, a user profile may be deleted if thereare no matching transactions within a 72 hour time threshold from thecurrent time.

Optionally, the user profile module 222 may store a wearable identifierassociated with a user profile in addition to the customer identifier(or user identifier). The wearable identifier may correspond to awearable device worn by a customer at a venue, and used foridentification instead of a customer identifier such as a governmentissued identification card. In this case, the functionality associatedwith the user profile module 222 would apply to the wearable identifier.The wearable identifier may be issued at a venue for a particular eventat the venue, or may alternatively be another identifier such as aloyalty card associated with the venue.

The user profile database 224 provides storage for user profiles,including user information associated with a customer identifier, suchas a user's full name, address, age, or other biographical information.The user profile database 224 may also provide associated transactionidentifiers for each user profile, the associated transactionidentifiers corresponding to transaction records in the transactiondatabase. The associated transaction identifiers may be a historicalpurchase record of the user of the controlled products. Optionally, theuser profile database may store a wearable identifier that is associatedwith a user profile, for example, instead of a customer identifier froma government issued identification card, a wearable identifier may beissued to a customer and the wearable identifier may be used to identifya user profile instead of the identifier associated with the governmentissued identification card. Optionally, the user profile database maycontain only the customer identifier, and may not include personallyidentifying information such as the biographical information.Optionally, if a user profile associated with a customer

The user profile database 224 may be an SQL database, and may trackvarious aspects of the user profile, including but not limited to, oneor more user identifiers for each user, where the one or more useridentifiers may correspond to government issued identifiers, and one ormore vehicle identifiers associated with the user.

The transaction module 226 may provide functionality related totransaction information provided by the plurality of venues. Thetransaction module 226 may create, read, update, or delete transactiondata stored in the transaction database 228. When the authorizationmodule 220 receives an authorization request, it may call thetransaction module to create transaction records corresponding to thecustomer identifier in the authorization request. The transactionrecords may be created in the transaction database 228 based upon thereceived transaction data in the authorization request, including butnot limited to: time of the transaction, date of the transaction, ageographic location of the venue associated with the transaction, avenue identifier associated with the transaction, a venue type of thevenue associated with the transaction, an area of the venue associatedwith the transaction (for example, a room in a restaurant), one or moreproduct identifiers corresponding to one or more controlled productsinvolved in the transaction, one or more product names associated withthe one or more product identifiers, one or more unit costs associatedwith the one or more product identifiers, one or more subtotalsassociated with the one or more product identifiers, one or more productquantities associated with the one or more product identifiers, one ormore tax status codes associated with the one or more productidentifiers, a subtotal amount associated with the transaction, a taxamount associated with the transaction, a total amount associated withthe transaction, payment card information corresponding to a method ofpayment for the transaction, a payment method type associated with thetransaction, and other point-of-sale data provided in a transaction asknown.

The transaction module 226 may read the transactions in the transactionsdatabase 228. For example, when the authorization module 220 receives anauthorization request, it may call the transaction module 226 to requestthe transactions associated with the user profile identified by theauthorization request.

The transaction module 226 may delete the transactions in thetransactions database 228, either by removal from the transactionsdatabase 228 or by marking the transactions as “inactive”. As describedherein, the transaction module 226 may determine that one or morehistorical transactions associated with a user profile are from before atime threshold, and the transactions from before the time threshold maybe deleted. The time threshold may be a number of hours, for example, 24hours or 72 hours. The time threshold may be configurable be anadministrator user.

The one or more product identifiers in each transaction record in thetransaction database 228 may identify product records found in theproduct database 230.

The product database 230 may identify a listing of controlled productsthat may be purchased or served at the plurality of venues. The productsmay have product identifiers and alternate identifiers such as StockKeeping Units (SKUs), Universal Product Codes (UPCs) and the like. Theproduct records in product database may further include a product title,a controlled product type, a container type of the product, a typicalpack size of the product, controlled product indicia (e.g.Alcohol-By-Volume values, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 3 , there is shown a software component diagram 300 ofthe system for retail management of controlled substances in a retailenvironment. The system 300 includes an authorization module 320,investigation module 321, user profile module 322, user profile database324, transaction module 326, transaction database 328, and productdatabase 330.

The authorization module 320 may implement the method found in FIG. 4 ,the authorization module 320 may receive an authorization request from avenue in the plurality of venues, and determines an advisory response tobe sent back to the venue.

The advisory response may be determined from a user profile which theauthorization module 320 receives from the user profile module 322, oneor more transactions associated with the user profile received from thetransaction module 326, one or more refusal events associated with theuser profile received from the transaction module 326, and one or moreproducts associated with the one or more transactions associated withthe one or more transactions.

The advisory response may be in the form shown in FIG. 6A. The advisoryresponse may include the user profile information from the user profiledatabase 324, the transaction data from the transaction database 328,and product information from the product database 330. The advisoryresponse may further include information relating to refusal events forother purchases that the customer has attempted at other venues. Theadvisory response may further include a theft indicator associated withthe customer identifier, indicating, for example, that the user'sidentification card may have been stolen.

The advisory response may further include a status, the status mayinclude a risk determination on a scale of 0-100 that may identify thelikelihood that a customer has purchased or been served controlledproducts beyond a threshold. The advisory response status may also be asuccess status, a warning status, or a failure status. The successstatus may reflect a prediction that the sale or service of thecontrolled substance in the authorization request at the venue meets thevenue's obligations. The warning status may indicate uncertainty aboutwhether the sale or service of the controlled products in theauthorization request meets the venue's obligations. The action taken byan employee at a venue in response to the authorization response may berecorded and transmitted to the remote service in order to track thevenue's compliance. The failure status may indicate to the venue thatthe sale or service of the controlled product does not meet the venue'sobligations. The advisory response may include a listing of thehistorical transaction associated with the user profile for review by avenue employee, including refusals of the customer for transactions. Theadvisory response may include a theft indicator for the customeridentifier indicating that the identifier has been flagged as stolen.

The investigation module 321 may implement the method found in FIG. 5 .The investigation module 321 may receive an investigation request from alaw enforcement system, including ones having license plate scanningsystems. The investigation module 321 may determine an investigationresponse based on the investigation request to be sent to the lawenforcement system.

The investigation response may be determined from a user profile whichthe investigation module 321 receives from the user profile module 322,one or more transactions associated with the user profile received fromthe transaction module 326, and one or more products associated with theone or more transactions associated with the one or more transactions.

The investigation response may be in the form shown in FIG. 6B. Theinvestigation response may include the user profile information from theuser profile database 324, the transaction data from the transactiondatabase 328, and product information from the product database 330. Theinvestigation response may further include correctional information suchas parole information. The parole information may include a paroleindicia indicating the status of the user's parole, and if there are anyassociated parole conditions that may be relevant to controlledsubstances. The parole information may be determined by theinvestigation module 321 making a correctional query request to acorrectional system including a customer or user identifier, andreceiving a corresponding query response.

The investigation response may further include a status, the status mayinclude a risk determination on a scale of 0-100 that may identify thelikelihood that a customer has purchased or been served controlledproducts beyond a threshold. The investigation response status may alsobe a success status, a warning status, or a failure status. The successstatus may reflect a prediction that the driver does pose a publicsafety concern based on their purchase history of controlled products.The warning status may indicate uncertainty about whether the driveridentified in the investigation request poses a public safety concern.The failure status may indicate to the law enforcement officer that thedriver identified in the investigation request likely poses a publicsafety concern. The investigation response may include a listing of thehistorical transactions associated with the user profile for review by avenue employee.

Referring to FIG. 4 , there is a method diagram 400 for retailmanagement of controlled substances.

At 402, receiving, at a processing server from a prior point-of-saledevice, a prior authorization request comprising one or more priorproduct identifiers corresponding to one or more prior controlledsubstance products presented for purchase at the prior point-of-saledevice, and a customer identifier presented by the customer purchasingthe one or more prior controlled substance products at the priorpoint-of-sale device.

At 404, generating, at the processing server, a corresponding customerprofile associated with the customer identifier, and the one or moreprior product identifiers in the prior authorization request.

At 406, receiving, at a processing server from the current point-of-saledevice, a current authorization request comprising one or more currentproduct identifiers corresponding to one or more current controlledsubstance products presented for purchase at the current point-of-saledevice, and the customer identifier presented by the customer purchasingthe one or more current controlled substance products at the currentpoint-of-sale device.

At 408, determining, at the processing server, the correspondingcustomer profile associated with the customer identifier.

At 410, updating, at the processing server, the corresponding customerprofile with the one or more current product identifiers in the currentauthorization request.

At 412, transmitting, from the processing server to the currentpoint-of-sale device, an advisory response corresponding to the currentauthorization request and the corresponding customer profile based onthe one or more current product identifiers and the one or more priorproduct identifiers.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may be further based on atime of purchase of the one or more prior controlled substance productsrepresented by the one or more prior product identifiers.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may be further based on aprior location type of the prior venue.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may be further based on acurrent location type of the current venue.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may be further based on adistance between the first venue and the second venue.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may be further based on atransportation type used between the first venue and the second venue.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may be further based on aproduct type corresponding to the one or more current productidentifiers and the one or more prior product identifiers.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may be further based on acontainer indicia of the one or more current controlled substanceproducts represented by the one or more current product identifiers anda container indicia of the one or more prior controlled substanceproducts represented by one or more prior product identifiers.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may further include onone or more refusal events of the customer at other venues for sales orservice of a controlled product.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may further include atheft indicator for the customer identifier used by the customer, whichmay indicate if the customer identifier has been stolen.

Referring to FIG. 5 , there is a method diagram 500 for another methodof retail management of controlled substances.

At 502, receiving, at a processing server from the first point-of-saledevice, an authorization request comprising one or more productidentifiers corresponding to one or more controlled substance productspresented for purchase at the first point-of-sale device, and a customeridentifier presented by the customer purchasing the one or morecontrolled substance products at the first point-of-sale device.

At 504, determining, at the processing server, a corresponding customerprofile associated with the customer identifier.

At 506, updating, at the processing server, the corresponding customerprofile with the one or more product identifiers in the authorizationrequest.

At 508, transmitting, from the processing server to the firstpoint-of-sale device, an advisory response corresponding to theauthorization request and the corresponding customer profile.

At 510, updating, at the processing server, the corresponding customerprofile with the one or more current product identifiers in the currentauthorization request.

At 512, receiving, at the processing server from a law enforcementsystem, an investigation request comprising a vehicle identifier.

At 514, determining, at the processing server, an investigation customeridentifier corresponding to the vehicle identifier.

At 516, transmitting, from the processing server to the law enforcementsystem, an investigation response corresponding to the investigationrequest, the investigation response comprising an investigation customerprofile corresponding to the investigation customer identifier.

In a further embodiment, the customer identifier may be a governmentissued identifier.

In a further embodiment, the law enforcement system may be an opticallicense plate scanner.

In a further embodiment, the determining, at the processing server, thecorresponding customer profile associated with the customer identifiermay further comprise determining if there is not an existing customerprofile and creating a new customer profile corresponding to thecustomer identifier.

In a further embodiment, the advisory response may further comprise anauthorization status, the authorization status comprising a success, awarning, or a failure. In a further embodiment, an action is transmittedback to the remote service identifying the action taken by a venue inorder to track compliance by the venue. For example, if the advisoryresponse includes a failure status, and a transaction is subsequentlyperformed at a venue for the controlled substance, this action may bereported to the remote service.

In a further embodiment, the updating, at the processing server, thecorresponding customer profile with the one or more product identifiersin the authorization request may further comprise updating thecorresponding customer profile with a transaction time, one or moreproduct type identifiers corresponding to the one or more productidentifiers, and a venue identifier corresponding to the first venue.

In a further embodiment, the customer profile and the investigationcustomer profile may further comprise historical purchase informationfor the customer.

In a further embodiment, the customer profile may further include one ormore refusal events associated with the customer being refused serviceor sales of a controlled product at a venue.

Referring to FIG. 6A, there is shown a user interface diagram 600showing an advisory response of a retail management system at a venue.The user interface 600 showing the advisory response 604 may bedisplayed at a point-of-sale device 602 at a venue. The point-of-saledevice 602 may be a mobile device, such as a mobile phone using theGoogle® Android® operating system, or the Apple® iOS operating system.The point-of-sale device may alternatively be a payment card reader asknown. The point-of-sale device 602 may be a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, or another general purpose computing device.

The advisory response 604 may be displayed on a display 610 of thepoint-of-sale device 602. The advisory response 604 may include userprofile information such as the customer's name, an image associatedwith the customer 608, a customer identifier associated with thecustomer's identifier 612, and advisory text 606. The advisory text 606may include a purchase history of a controlled product received from theretail management system. This advisory text may include an amount ofcontrolled product, a time of purchase of the controlled product, or anyother piece of data associated with the advisory response 604. Theadvisory text 606 may further include information related to one or morerefusal events associated with the customer at other venues. Theadvisory text 606 may further indicate a theft indicator associated withthe customer identifier used by the customer.

The venue employee, in receipt of the advisory message, may thus beinformed of the information in the advisory message when dischargingtheir obligations to public safety when selling or serving the customera controlled product.

Referring to FIG. 6B, there is shown a user interface diagram 650showing an investigation response of a retail management system to a lawenforcement system 652. The user interface 650 showing the investigationresponse 654 may be displayed at a law enforcement system 652 for a lawenforcement officer. The law enforcement system 652 may be a mobiledevice, such as a mobile phone using the Google® Android® operatingsystem, or the Apple® iOS operating system. The law enforcement system652 may alternatively be a system integrated with a law enforcementvehicle, such as an onboard computer system. The law enforcement system652 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or another generalpurpose computing device.

The investigation response 654 may be displayed on a display of the lawenforcement system 652. The investigation response 654 may include userprofile information such as the customer's name, an image associatedwith the customer 660, a user identifier associated with the customer'sidentifier 662, investigation text 656, and parole indicia 658. Theinvestigation text 656 may include a purchase history of a controlledproduct received from the retail management system. This investigationtext 656 may include an amount of controlled product, a time of purchaseof the controlled product, or any other piece of data associated withthe investigation response 654.

The law enforcement officer, in receipt of the investigation response,may thus be informed of the information in the investigation responsewhen discharging their obligations to public safety when patrollingpublic roadways in order to identify drivers having purchased controlledproducts or having been served controlled products.

Referring next to FIG. 7A, there is shown perspective view 700 of awearable device 704 of a retail management system. The wearable device704 may be attached around a customer's wrist below the customer's hand702. The wearable device 704 has a wearable identifier 706. At a venue,a customer may be issued a wearable device 704 after reading theircustomer identification (for example government issued identification).The retail management system may store the wearable identifier and thecustomer identifier in the user profile for the user, and subsequentlythe user may present the wearable device 704 at a point-of-sale deviceat the venue when purchasing a controlled substance at the venue. Thewearable devices 704 may be used in situations where high-volumepurchases occur at a point-of-sale device, such as at a sports stadium,an auto-race, a movie-theatre, a concert, or another public event. Thewearable identifier may be a Quick Reference (QR) code that may beoptically read at the point-of-sale. The wearable device 704 may besubstantially fixed on the user's wrist, and removable only bydestroying the wearable device 704 and rendering it unusable.

Referring next to FIG. 7B, there is shown perspective view 750 of analternate wearable device 754, attached around a customer's wrist belowthe hand 752. In this alternate embodiment, an Radio-FrequencyIdentification device 756 may be used. The RFID identifier 756 may beread at a point-of-sale device using an RFID reader. In otherembodiments, other identifiers may be used as well, including barcodes,Near-Field Communication (NFC) devices, etc.

We claim:
 1. A method for retail management of controlled substances ata first venue, the first venue comprising a first point-of-sale device,the method comprising: receiving, at a processing server from the firstpoint-of-sale device, an authorization request comprising one or moreproduct identifiers corresponding to one or more controlled substanceproducts presented for purchase at the first point-of-sale device, and acustomer identifier presented by the customer purchasing the one or morecontrolled substance products at the first point-of-sale device;determining, at the processing server, a corresponding customer profileassociated with the customer identifier; updating, at the processingserver, the corresponding customer profile with the one or more productidentifiers in the authorization request; transmitting, from theprocessing server to the first point-of-sale device, an advisoryresponse corresponding to the authorization request and thecorresponding customer profile; receiving, at the processing server froma law enforcement system, an investigation request comprising a vehicleidentifier; determining, at the processing server, an investigationcustomer identifier corresponding to the vehicle identifier; andtransmitting, from the processing server to the law enforcement system,an investigation response corresponding to the investigation request,the investigation response comprising an investigation customer profilecorresponding to the investigation customer identifier.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the customer identifier is a government issuedidentifier.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the law enforcement systemis an optical license plate scanner.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinthe determining, at the processing server, the corresponding customerprofile associated with the customer identifier further comprisesdetermining if there is not an existing customer profile and creating anew customer profile corresponding to the customer identifier.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the advisory response further comprises anauthorization status, the authorization status comprising a success, awarning, or a failure.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the updating,at the processing server, the corresponding customer profile with theone or more product identifiers in the authorization request furthercomprises updating the corresponding customer profile with a transactiontime, one or more product type identifiers corresponding to the one ormore product identifiers, and a venue identifier corresponding to thefirst venue.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the customer profile andthe investigation customer profile further comprise historical purchaseinformation for the customer.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: determining, at the processing server, if the customerprofile contains historical purchase information from before a timethreshold; and removing any historical purchase information associatedwith the customer profile before the time threshold.
 9. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising: transmitting, from the processing server toa correctional system, a correctional query request, the correctionalquery request comprising the customer identifier; receiving, at theprocessing server from the correctional system, a correctional queryresponse corresponding to the correctional query request, thecorrectional query response comprising a parole status indiciacorresponding to the customer identifier; and upon receiving thecorrectional query response status comprising an active parole indicia,generating the advisory response with the authorization status offailure.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing thecustomer with a wearable device comprising a wearable identifier; andstoring the wearable identifier in association with the customerprofile; wherein the customer identifier presented by the customerpurchasing the one or more controlled substance products at the firstpoint-of-sale is the wearable identifier.
 11. The method of claim 7,wherein the retail environment further comprises a second point-of-saledevice located at a second venue, the method further comprising:receiving, at the processing server from the second point-of-saledevice, a second authorization request comprising the another one ormore product identifiers corresponding to another one or more controlledsubstance products presented for purchase at the second point-of-saledevice, and a second customer identifier presented by the customerpurchasing the another one or more controlled substance products at thesecond point-of-sale device; determining, at the processing server, acorresponding second customer profile associated with the customeridentifier; updating, at the processing server, the second correspondingcustomer profile with the another one or more product identifiers in thesecond authorization request; transmitting, from the processing serverto the second point-of-sale device, a second advisory responsecorresponding to the second authorization request and the correspondingsecond customer profile; and wherein if the first customer identifierand the second customer identifier are the same, the second advisoryresponse to the second point-of-sale device comprises the one or moreproduct identifiers and the another one or more product identifiers. 12.A system for retail management of controlled substances in a retailenvironment, the retail environment comprising a first point-of-saledevice, the system comprising: a processing server in networkcommunication with the first point-of-sale device, the processing servercomprising: a memory, the memory comprising a database; and a processorin communication with the memory, the processor configured to: receivefrom the first point-of-sale device, an authorization request comprisingone or more product identifiers corresponding to one or more controlledsubstance products presented for purchase at the first point-of-saledevice, and a customer identifier presented by the customer purchasingthe one or more controlled substance products at the first point-of-saledevice; determine a corresponding customer profile in the databaseassociated with the customer identifier; update the correspondingcustomer profile in the database with the one or more productidentifiers in the authorization request; transmit an advisory responsecorresponding to the authorization request and the correspondingcustomer profile to the first point-of-sale device; receive aninvestigation request comprising a vehicle identifier from a lawenforcement system; determine an investigation customer identifiercorresponding to the vehicle identifier; and transmit an investigationresponse corresponding to the investigation request to the lawenforcement system, the investigation response comprising aninvestigation customer profile corresponding to the investigationcustomer identifier.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the customeridentifier is a government issued identifier.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein the law enforcement system is an optical license platescanner.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine if there is not an existing customer profile inthe database and creating a new customer profile corresponding to thecustomer identifier in the database.
 16. The system of claim 15, whereinthe advisory response further comprises an authorization status, theauthorization status comprising a success, a warning, or a failure. 17.The system of claim 16, wherein the customer profile and theinvestigation customer profile further comprise historical purchaseinformation for the customer.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: determine if the customer profilecontains historical purchase information from before a time threshold;and remove any historical purchase information associated with thecustomer profile in the database before the time threshold.
 19. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:transmit a correctional query request to a correctional system, thecorrectional query request comprising the customer identifier; receive acorrectional query response corresponding to the correctional queryrequest from the correctional system, the correctional query responsecomprising a parole status indicia corresponding to the customeridentifier; and upon receiving the correctional query response statuscomprising an active parole indicia, generate the advisory response withthe authorization status of failure.
 20. The system of claim 12, furthercomprising: a wearable device comprising a wearable identifier readableby the first point-of-sale device; and wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: store the wearable identifier in association with thecustomer profile; and wherein the customer identifier presented by thecustomer purchasing the one or more controlled substance products at thefirst point-of-sale device is the wearable identifier.
 21. The system ofclaim 17, wherein the retail environment further comprises a secondpoint-of-sale device located at a second venue, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: receive a second authorization request from thesecond point-of-sale device, the second authorization request comprisinganother one or more product identifiers corresponding to another one ormore controlled substance products presented for purchase at the secondpoint-of-sale device, and a second customer identifier presented by thecustomer purchasing the another one or more controlled substanceproducts at the second point-of-sale device; determine a correspondingcustomer profile associated with the second customer identifier in thedatabase; updating the corresponding second customer profile in thedatabase with the another one or more product identifiers in the secondauthorization request; transmitting a second advisory response to thesecond point-of-sale device, the second advisory response correspondingto the second authorization request and the corresponding secondcustomer profile; and wherein if the first customer identifier and thesecond customer identifier are the same, the second advisory response tothe second point-of-sale device comprises the one or more productidentifiers and the another one or more product identifiers.